"Bidirectional charging is a key future technology – for the attractiveness of e-mobility as well as for a renewable, flexible energy system. It is therefore a strong signal and an important contribution to the success of e-mobility that the Bundestag has now created some key prerequisites for the successful market launch of bidirectional charging.

The amendments to the Energy Industry Act and the Electricity Tax Act eliminate double charges for grid fees. Previously, grid fees were levied both when charging an electric vehicle for intermediate storage and again, after the electricity was fed back into the grid, upon actual end consumption. It's good that this obstacle has now been removed. Furthermore, the electricity tax is being eliminated, at least for some key applications. Both are important steps toward making bidirectional charging more attractive for consumers and strengthening the market ramp-up of e-mobility.

It remains incomprehensible, however, why the abolition of double taxation on electricity in the case of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) applications should initially be limited to users with their own photovoltaic systems. The Finance Committee's recommendation to examine further simplifications in electricity tax law for Vehicle-to-Grid should therefore be taken up and implemented swiftly.

The automotive industry has successfully developed bidirectional charging technologies to market maturity. All German manufacturers already offer bidirectional electric vehicles. More than twenty battery-electric vehicle models available in Germany are already equipped for bidirectional energy feeding back into the grid (vehicle-to-home / vehicle-to-grid), and more will follow.

It is therefore all the more important that further political measures are initiated to facilitate the technology's entry into the mass market. These include, in particular, simple metering and measurement concepts for the metrological separation of electricity quantities eligible for preferential treatment regarding network charges and electricity taxes. The distinction between electricity used for traction and electricity that is merely temporarily stored must be simplified. Furthermore, income tax simplifications are needed."